Maintaining many options.

“The work I do at my civilian job is exactly the same as what I do in the Navy Reserve,” says Nicholas. “Only in the Reserve, I’m the leading Petty Officer in my unit, so that means at any given time, I could have 30 people working under me.”

The work Nicholas is referring to is auto repair and maintenance. “In my civilian job, all I’m really expected to do is fix trucks and that’s fine,” Nicholas explains. “But in the Navy Reserve, sure I fix trucks, but I’m also developing my leadership abilities and getting to do so much more.”

In civilian life, Nicholas works as an auto mechanic for a government installation. In the Navy Reserve, he serves as a Construction Mechanic (CM). As such, Nicholas is also a member of the Seabees — the men and women of the Navy’s Construction Battalion.

Nicholas’ affiliation with the Seabees began when he was 18 years old. “I always knew I wanted to go to college,” he says, “but when I graduated high school, I also knew I wasn’t ready. So, at that point, I decided to join the Navy — mainly so I could earn the money for college.  But also, being a mechanic had always sounded interesting to me, so when the Navy offered me that as one of my options, I snapped it up.”

According to Nicholas, he really enjoyed his time on Active Duty, which included international tours in Spain and Guam. After five years though, he decided to transition from Active Duty and enroll in college. A month after transitioning, however, Nicholas was once again a Seabee and a Construction Mechanic, only now serving as a member of the Navy Reserve.

“The main reason I joined the Reserve was for retirement,” Nicholas states. “Where else can you work two weeks a year and one weekend a month and receive retirement benefits? But it’s more than just that. I really enjoy it, and that goes for when I was on Active Duty as well. I never looked at the military as something I had to do or needed to do. It was always something I wanted to do and something I still want to do.”

Nicholas goes on to say that patriotism also factored into the decision. “It’s not something people in the unit sit around and talk about much,” he says. “But I know in my mind, it feels good to be doing something important for my country. In addition to repairing and maintaining vehicles, we’re also responsible for training Active Duty Seabees — getting them ready to serve internationally.”

Today, Nicholas is pursuing his college degree in computer science as well as pursuing his next promotion. “In the next year, I plan to make Chief (Chief Petty Officer),” he says. “And once I get my college degree, I’m seriously considering becoming an Officer.”

According to Nicholas, if and when he does become an Officer, he doesn’t know if he’ll remain in the Reserve or go back to Active Duty. “I’m not really sure what I’ll do,” he explains. “But I really like knowing that I have a lot of flexibility and options. I can stay in the Reserve and the Seabees, or I can utilize my degree in computer science to do something totally different. That’s another thing I really enjoy about the Navy. In a way, there’s a lot of autonomy, flexibility and opportunity that you really can’t find anywhere else.”

Nicholas cites an example to make his point. “Take my interest in computers,” he says. “Recently, I was given a unique opportunity to create and maintain a Web site for my 1st Class Petty Officer association. Now that is something I’d never be able to do in my civilian work. Like I said before, I’m really just expected to fix trucks. There isn’t any situation I can think of that would require me to be at or utilize a computer.”

When Nicholas is not working or serving, he enjoys reading, sports and, not surprising, fixing and working on computers.

Nicholas lives in the Southeast United States.